GSPP Personal History Statement

[nandanroom]

I know it is too close to the actual deadline, but isn't the prompt too specific. And then in the end it says " In the PHS, we want a sense of you as a person". 

 

Anyone having any advice on how to tackle it ? If it is a diversity essay, why so much stress on education?

 

TIA

[MJA87]

I've heard it basically is a diversity statement and that's (for the most part) how I wrote it.

[gwualum4mpp]

Hello, current GSPPer here. I am not sure if it is too late to respond but I approached the PHS as answering "why" and giving more of my personal background and using the SOP as the "what" and "how" when describing my motives to receieve an MPP. I made sure to emphasize the useful skills I had to offer in the SOP and how I wanted to build on this and bridge it into my future, also identifying an area in the field where I could make a difference. I think it helped to use both as halves of a larger whole, with the PHS leading to the SOP.

 

To be sure, the PHS prompt may have been different in the past so there is that caveat! Good luck!

[Wozezeka]

I didn't do a life story for the PHS, which I feel like a lot of people do. Instead I outlined examples of leadership in promoting equality (hand in hand w diversity) and what I learned and how that relates to my decision to pursue public policy. I don't know if that is exactly what they are looking for, but it felt right. I just didn't see the relevance in a life story and as a white person from an upper class family, I didn't have much to offer in terms of diversity, but I could highlight experiences that allowed me to understand other cultures and diversity.